# <type>(<scope>): <subject> (max 50 chars) # |<---- using Conventional Commits ---->| # # <body> Explain *what* and *why*, not *how*. (72 chars max) # # <footer> Any closing notes or breaking changes. # # --- Commits will be signed off with your user.email --- Now, every time you run git commit , your editor opens with this custom template inside COMMIT-EDITMSG . It acts as a checklist, dramatically improving consistency across teams. "Aborting commit due to empty commit message." You saved an empty file, or a file with only comments ( # ). Git reads COMMIT-EDITMSG , strips comments, and sees nothing. Fix: Run git commit again and write a message. Editor opens but COMMIT-EDITMSG is missing. Your $EDITOR environment variable is misconfigured, or your editor crashed. Check with echo $EDITOR . Fix: git config --global core.editor "nano" (or your preferred editor). A hook is rejecting my commit, but I need to bypass it. You can bypass commit-msg hooks with --no-verify :
In the world of Git, much of the spotlight falls on commands like commit , push , merge , and rebase . Developers boast about their aliases, their branching strategies, and their elegant use of interactive rebasing. Yet, nestled quietly in the .git folder of every repository lies a humble, often-overlooked file: COMMIT-EDITMSG . COMMIT-EDITMSG
Using a prepare-commit-msg hook (a cousin that runs before the editor opens), you can read the branch name and append the ticket to COMMIT-EDITMSG : It acts as a checklist, dramatically improving consistency
Now, if a developer tries to commit with a bad message, Git aborts. This doesn't just work for command-line commits; it works for GUI tools and IDEs because everything eventually writes to COMMIT-EDITMSG . Your project uses Jira (PROJ-123). You want every commit to include the ticket number, but you hate typing it. 30 seconds before you commit, you fetched the PROJ-123 branch. Fix: Run git commit again and write a message
| File | Purpose | | :--- | :--- | | .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG | Temporary storage for the current commit message. | | .git/MERGE_MSG | Temporary storage for a merge commit message. | | .git/SQUASH_MSG | Temporary storage for a squash commit message. | | .git/index | The staging area (not human-readable). |
If you have ever typed git commit without the -m flag, you have interacted with this file. You might have thought you were just using a text editor to write a message. In reality, you were editing a temporary file named COMMIT-EDITMSG .